Taking the first step, being involved and supportive, bearing fruit and rejoicing
by Larry Lenzen, III
Hello everyone. Sharon Harman gave a nice sharing last week on the Holy Father’s Encyclical Joy of the Gospe and the coordinators have asked me to do chapter one. Sharon did the introduction last week and I’m going to do chapter one and break it into two parts so that you don’t get too tired listening to me. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Larry Lenzen. I came to the Community forty+ years ago as a rather rebellious and somewhat mischievous teenager, so I come before you as a somewhat rebellious and slightly mischievous adult.
The Joy of the Gospel. I hope some of you have had a chance to read it or look at some of it. This week I will talk a little bit about it as it relates to us as individuals. Next week I’ll talk about how it relates to us as a Community. The Pope gets rather specific about parishes and communities as well. Chapter 1 is titled, The Church’s Missionary Transformation. If you open up your Bibles to Matthew 28:19-20, I think you’re pretty familiar with this, “The Great Commission” where Jesus says:
“19Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 20Teach them to carry out everything I have commanded you and know that I am with you always, until the end of the world.”
As Pauline Nuss was sharing earlier, I realized that she pretty much gave this talk in personal testimony form, so I’m just going to talk about a few things that stood out to me that the Pope is talking about in this chapter. He starts out by talking about how Scripture shows that God challenges those who believe in him to go forth. He taught Abraham and told him to set out for a new land in Genesis 12:1-3. He told Moses to lead his people to the Promised Land in Exodus 3:10 and in Jeremiah 1:7 to go to all God would send him to; and to us to go and make disciples and to reach the peripheries in need of light of the Gospel.
Missionary Joy
The Pope talks about Gospel Joy as being Missionary Joy. He gave examples:
- the seventy-two felt it when they returned from their mission in Luke 10:17
- Jesus felt it when he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and praised the Father for revealing himself to the poor and the little ones in Luke 10:21
- the first converts felt it at Pentecost when they heard the apostles preaching in their native languages.
It is a sign that God has proclaimed and is bearing fruit. It’s a drive to keep pressing forward, always sowing good seed. To call the good all places on all occasions without hesitation, reluctance or fear.
As you listened to Pauline’s testimony, if somebody hadn’t done that for her she would not have ended up here.
We have to remember that we have to take the first step. Remember that the Lord takes the initiative but we have to take the first step. And the key word here is that we have to be involved. We have to be sowers, not just observers.
Then he talks a little about what I describe as the characteristics of effective evangelization. The first is to show mercy. This is a core message of this papacy. The Pope says St. Thomas taught that as far as the external works are concerned, mercy is the greatest of all the virtues: In itself mercy is the greatest of the virtues, since all of the others revolve around it and, more than this, it makes up for their deficiencies. In addition to showing mercy we have to be supportive; have patient expectation; have apostolic endurance; be always concerned with fruits. I always tell my kids when I talk to them about living in the business world to never confuse effort with results. I think the Lord is telling us to focus on the fruits. Be willing to sacrifice; be always filled with joy; celebrate victory.
I’m sure there were a few celebrations when Ray and Pauline and Jack and Pat came to the Prayer Meetings. Also, we have to realize that our audience may not understand the background of what we are saying. I go back to what Pauline was thinking about, “What’s a ‘prayer meeting’?” So we have to be cognizant of that, that the people we’re talking to may not understand. So, corresponding to that is keep the message simple (Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected) but at the same time, not lose the depth of the truth. It is faith working through love; and realizing or remembering that all teaching or evangelization ultimately must be reflected in the teacher’s way of life, in how we live. Pope Francis exhorts us to go forth to the fringes of humanity without rushing aimlessly; to those who are needy, who cannot repay us, to the poor – another strong message of his.
Challenge to pursue those who need the Lord
Finally, we must pursue those who are in need of a personal relationship with the Lord. I conclude talking about two things. One is pursuit. Someone pursued Ray and Pauline. I will give you a quick testimony. As I said, I came as a pre-teen but when I was in high school Youth Ministry, I wasn’t exactly the model member but a little bit of a trouble maker. Yet my Youth Ministry leaders never gave up on me, never shamed me, never judged me. I was always loved unconditionally and they pursued me.
I went away to college and I was invited to join the Charismatic Prayer Group at Texas A&M, which I did only half-heartedly. But the other members (including my roommates, some sitting over here) never gave up on me but continued to call me on and to love me. My second year, I was invited to join a men’s household in College Station, which I ultimately did extremely reluctantly. A matter of fact, I tried severely ways to get out of it and retained a bit of the rebelliousness. (If you want details talk to Mike later.) But again, my housemates never gave up on me, and Steve was one of those guys who didn’t give up. They never stopped pursuing me. When I graduated and moved to Dallas, I was again invited to join a men’s household. (Like--does this ever stop? David can tell you about those details.) I ultimately joined again, reluctantly. But my housemates continued to pursue me and witness by their lives.
My challenge for us is: let us never stop pursuing those that God puts in our path! They may be somebody we know who knows the Lord. I knew the Lord, but I kept running. There may be people who don’t know the Lord at all! But we need to be relentless and tireless in our pursuit.
My exhortation is get involved; move out of our comfort zones. I don’t know what kind of comfort zone the lady who talked to Pauline had to get out of in order to witness to her and invite her to a Prayer Meeting, but I think about when my Dad was in the hospital in the fall. He was in the hospital for three weeks. I was amazed at how my Mom and Dad sat there and witnessed to countless people – healthcare workers primarily. Every single day they were witnessing. I felt like “How do you do this,? You don’t even know these people?” Even after all these years I was just amazed! They got out of their comfort zone; they didn’t let it stop them.
So let’s go forth; let’s get involved and let’s tirelessly pursue these people. Amen.
(Community Gathering, January 24, 2016)